Knesset Passes Education Bill

December 22, 1983

JERUSALEM (Dec. 21)

The Knesset today passed a controversial education bill that requires every family to pay an 800 Shekel (about $8) a month education fee. The bill, adopted on its first reading, goes to the Knesset Finance Committee where the Tami faction threatens to kill it on grounds that it imposes an unfair burden on low income families.

The two Tami MKs boycotted today’s vote. They said they did not vote against the measure because it would have been unseemly for a coalition partner to vote against the government of which it is a member. But Ben-Zion Rubin, Deputy Minister of Labor and Welfare who is a Tami MK, said his party would raise the matter in the Cabinet and if the Cabinet fails to alter the bill, Tami would vote against it in the Finance Committee.